What Is the CA/Browser Forum?
The CA/Browser Forum, established in 2005, sets standards for digital certificates. It includes CAs, browser vendors, and tech companies collaborating to address security threats and enhance certificate reliability.
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Understanding the Certification Authority/Browser Forum
Digital certificates, like SSL/TLS, are essential for maintaining internet security by validating the identity of online entities and protecting sensitive data in transit. But how do different players like Certificate Authorities (CAs), browser vendors, and technology companies agree on and implement complex security standards and stay ahead of emerging threats?
This post takes a behind-the-scenes look at how the CA/Browser (CA/B) Forum maintains rules and standards for issuing and maintaining digital certificates to ensure trust in the certificate ecosystem and protect sensitive data exchanged on the internet.
What is the CA/Brower (CA/B) Forum?
The CA/Browser Forum was founded in 2005 to establish standards and best practices for issuing, implementing, and handling digital certificates. It includes a voluntary group of CAs like Sectigo, browser vendors like Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft, and major technology companies like Apple. The organization's collaborative nature sets the stage for members to collectively address emerging security threats and challenges related to digital certificates.
The Forum facilitates collaboration among its members to build a secure and trusted certificate ecosystem. It also enhances the reliability of digital certificates by developing standards for issuance, validation, and revocation. Its role has become more critical as we increasingly rely on certificates for verifying online entities and ensuring secure online communication.
The power and influence of the CA/B Forum
The CA/B Forum has the authority and credibility to set standards for SSL/TLS certificates and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) because it brings together major players central to certificate issuance, management, and consumption. It also employs a consensus-based model to ensure the standards reflect its members' collective knowledge, experience, and perspectives.
The organization plays a critical role in shaping internet security protocols. It actively contributes to refining SSL/TLS encryption, which is fundamental to securing internet communication.
The CA/B Forum establishes standards for certificate validation, authentication, and revocation. It addresses the cryptographic aspects of internet security, like recommending key lengths and algorithms used in SSL/TLS certificates. Also, it updates guidelines and requirements regularly to help its members stay ahead of emerging threats.
The Forum has a significant influence on major CAs like Sectigo, DigiCert, and GlobalSign. Additionally, the organization publishes the Baseline Requirements (BRs), a set of guidelines on the minimum standards for validating and managing SSL/TLS certificates.
Baseline Requirements
A CA must follow the operational processes outlined in the BRs to get browsers to accept its public certificates. The requirements cover every aspect of certificate security protocols, including physical and cloud-based security, authentication practices, certificate morphology, and more. It includes rules for domain validation, requester and organization validation, and maximum validity period.
The BRs are central to certificate validation, authentication, and issuance. They provide a framework CAs use for issuing and managing certificates, creating consistency across the industry and ensuring all certificates are validated based on the same criteria. The requirements also establish minimum security standards, such as the cryptographic strength of keys and secure validation and authentication processes.
Rule-making and enforcement
The CA/Browser Forum engages in a collaborative process to establish, update, and enforce standards, with members forming individual working groups to cover topics including certificate validity periods, domain validation methods, network security, and more.
Forum members can submit proposals for rule changes or updates, and the working groups will assess the proposed changes' feasibility, security implications, and potential impact. Then, the updates must achieve consensus among the members. After a proposal gains support, it often goes into a public review period, during which external stakeholders and the broader security community provide input. Lastly, the Forum conducts a formal vote to finalize rule changes and documents the updates in its guidelines.
The CA/Browser Forum operates on a self-regulatory model in which members voluntarily follow the established rules and guidelines. CAs may undergo compliance audits to ensure alignment with the BRs and other standards. They may be required to take corrective actions and face penalties such as warnings, suspension, or expulsion if they fail to adhere to the guidelines. Meanwhile, the Forum could revoke certificates issued in violation of the rules.
The impact of the CA/B Forum on cybersecurity
The CA/B Forum enhances cybersecurity by developing and maintaining security standards for digital certificates to support identity validation and secure online communication. The guidelines help ensure the trustworthiness of these certificates by safeguarding the integrity of SSL/TLS protocols. They also address certificated-related attack vectors, like man-in-the-middle attacks, certificate spoofing, and unauthorized certificate issuance.
Moreover, the Forum regularly reviews and updates its guidelines to address emerging cybersecurity threats and ensure the resiliency of industry practices. It fosters collaboration among CAs and browser vendors, bridging gaps between certificate issuance and implementation to ensure airtight data exchange across the internet.
Challenges the CA/B Forum faces
The CA/B Forum faces challenges in maintaining standards in the fast-shifting threat landscape and balancing security requirements with the functional needs of service providers and internet users. It must address the interests of diverse stakeholders while keeping pace with technological changes. Additionally, it has to manage controversies such as the debate over certificate validity periods.
Moreover, it must get as many CAs and browser vendors to adhere to the guidelines as possible. Yet, adoption can be challenging in today's complex internet ecosystem, where numerous entities with different technical capabilities and resource availability coexist. Also, the standards must account for global regulatory variability to maintain consistent security levels across jurisdictions.
Why enterprises should know about the CA/B Forum
The CA/B Forum is crucial for maintaining a secure internet despite the challenges. Enterprises should be aware of the organization's activities and decisions because they are pivotal in maintaining the trust and security of online data exchange and communication—without which most online transactions simply won't be possible.
We expect the CA/B Forum to continue its collaborative approach to ensure alignment among CAs and browser vendors. The guidelines will be updated more frequently and become more stringent to adapt to increasingly sophisticated attack techniques, protect internet users, and maintain trust in the certificate ecosystem.
For organizations managing thousands of certificates, manual processes are no longer enough to keep pace with the fast-changing guidelines, ensure compliance, and avoid outrages or disruptions caused by expired certificates. Automating Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) is essential for adapting to evolving security as the Forum responds to new security challenges and technological advancements.
Sectigo Certificate Manager (SCM) offers an all-in-one certificate lifecycle automation solution that allows you to discover, issue, renew, and manage all your private and public certificates in one place. Learn more and sign up for a free trial to see how to respond to shifting requirements and strengthen your security posture.